Three for the 'price' of one, this week - but each one a tiddler.
Whistles can be wetted, but appetites are only whetted.
Your 'whistle' is your throat or voice. You 'wet' it to lubricate it - by taking a drink.
It's easy to see how 'wetting' an appetite might be assumed correct, misconstrued to be describing a drooling mouth, but 'whetting' is what you need. To whet means to sharpen or to enhance.
Restaurateur - a restaurant manager or professional - is spelled just so, with no 'n'. Restauranteur is not a word, but respected media outlets such as the New Zealand Herald, The Scotsman, and The Sunday Express are among those who have previously failed to notice.
I would hope you're now thinking 'Hear, hear!' - in other words, 'Listen, listen!' - to what I have said. Because resisting the urge to respond 'Where, where?' if you're about to comment 'Here, here!' may be one I'll be unable to suppress, dear reader ...
I suspect, over time, that these 'alternatives' may eventually become acceptable, so common are they. Which others do you think might?
And what are your most commonly seen 'tiddler' errors (tiddlerrors?) that you'd like to consign to a literary Room 101?Labels: Mistakes, Spelling, Words